This invention relates to a device for holding the common disposable plastic trash bag in an open position for filling with refuse and debris. More particularly, the invention is directed to a molded one-piece holder that is ready to use with one hand to facilitate filling trash bags for disposing of garden, lawn, industrial, and commercial waste materials.
Many trash bag holders are disclosed in the prior art for performing the function of maintaining a trash bag in an open position to enable the user to easily rake leaves into it for disposal. Few of the patented devices are commercially available, however. For many are expensive to produce and difficult to handle because of size or operation. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,702,445; 5,180,126; 5,413,394; 5,913,496; 6,076,782; 6,076,783; and 6,012,687 exemplify such known devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,014,943 discloses a hoop that fits into the mouth of a plastic trash bag and includes a mechanism for adjusting the size of the hoop to peripherally expand from a collapsed form to fit tightly against the inner surface of the bag edge portion. Unlike the instant invention, this known device depends entirely on frictional contact between the outer surface of the tightened hoop and the inside surface of the trash bag for it to operate. A pan is integrally molded to the hoop with a living hinge to pivotally move between an open and closed condition. This device can be stored in a xe2x80x9cblankxe2x80x9d form as one flat integral unit.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,718,400 discloses a trash bag holder with a handle and a sweeping ramp to facilitate the raking of trash, leaves, and other debris into an open trash bag that is mounted to a rigid rectangular frame structure. Four (4) clamp elements on two sides of the rectangular structure hold the edge portion of the trash bag passed upwardly through the inside of the frame. So, in use, the outer surface of the bag is in contact with the inside of the frame structure. This, of course, would interfere with the efficient operation of the sweeping ramp when the known device is used in a manner other than hanging on the wall as shown in its FIG. 6.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,735,496 discloses a device for holding a flexible bag inside a receptacle using U-shaped resilient clips disposed over the top edge of a trash receptacle. The clips are not used in conjunction with a device for raking debris into the open mouth of a plastic trash bag.
The primary purpose of the invention is to provide an inexpensive device that anyone can easily use to facilitate sweeping trash, leaves, and debris into an open trash bag.
Another object of the invention is to provide a flexible strap member with integrally formed fastening means that can easily manipulated by the user.
Other objects, features, and advantages will become evident based on the following description of the embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.
The invention is directed to a trash bag holder for stabilizing an opening edge portion of a flexible bag in an open condition to receive refuse. The holder comprises a flexible strap member including two free opposing ends and coupling means for releasably connecting the two ends to form a closed supporting ring. The strap member has a length sufficient for the supporting ring to adjustably fit to the opening edge portion of the flexible bag opening and a width sufficient to facilitate the sweeping of refuse into the open bag.
Gripping means is disposed along the length of the strap member and has an open and closed position for releasably clamping the opening edge portion to the closed substantially rigid supporting ring for retaining the bag opening edge portion when the gripping means is in a closed clamping position. This strap member includes an inner and outer surface across said width, an inner edge along said strap length to be directed inwardly with respect to the flexible bag, and an outer edge along said strap length to be directed outwardly with respect to the bag. A ramp portion is rigidly connected to the outer edge of the strap member at a location intermediate the two opposing end portions to further enhance the sweeping of refuse into the open bag. The outer surface of the strap width is effective to fit contiguously to an inside surface of the bag opening edge portion.
The gripping means includes pivotally mounted fastening means which is effective to fixedly clamp the bag opening edge portion in place with respect to the outer width surface when the closed supporting ring is disposed within the bag opening edge portion. The fastening means includes flap means and first and second frictionally engaging means for releasably retaining the bag opening edge portion. The flap means is pivotally mounted to an outwardly directed edge or outer width surface of said strap member and has an inner, bag retaining surface that faces the outer width surface of the strap member when the gripping means is in a closed clamping position. One of said first and second frictionally engaging means is disposed on said inner, bag retaining surface of said flap means.
In a specific embodiment, the flap means includes a plurality of flap members laterally displaced with respect to each other along the length of the strap member to provide a substantially uniform clamping effect along the bag opening edge portion which is contiguously disposed against the outer width surface of the strap member. Each flap member includes a frictionally engaging projection member disposed on said inner, bag retaining surface for frictionally engaging a projection member receiving means disposed along the outer width surface of the strap member.
The projection member receiving means includes undercut groove means located on the outer width surface of the strap member to receive the frictionally engaging projection member of each flap member. The undercut groove means is a groove having a lip portion that extends along the length of the strap member.
Each flap member includes a free end section which carries said projection member that frictionally fits into the groove of the strap member to frictionally engage the lip portion when the flap member is manually forced into a closed clamping position after the outer width surface of the strap member is disposed within the bag opening edge portion to retain the edge portion of the bag opening between the free end section of the flap member and the outer width surface of the strap member.
In another embodiment, the fastening means includes flap means and frictionally engaging means for releasably retaining the bag opening edge portion. The flap means is pivotally mounted to an outwardly directed edge or outer width surface of said strap member. The flap means having an inner, bag retaining surface that faces the outer width surface of the strap member when the gripping means is in a closed clamping position. The frictionally engaging means is disposed on said inner, bag retaining surface of said flap means which includes a plurality of flap members laterally displaced with respect to each other along the length of the strap member to provide a substantially uniform clamping effect along a periphery of the bag opening edge portion which is contiguously disposed against the outer width surface of the strap member. Each flap member includes a free end section and a frictionally engaging projection member disposed at the free end section on the inner, bag retaining surface for frictionally engaging the inner edge of the strap member. Each flap member has a length sufficient to extend across the outer width surface of the strap member. The free end section includes an inner strap edge engaging member that frictionally snaps over said inner edge of the strap member when the flap member is manually forced into a closed clamping position after the outer width surface of the strap member is disposed within the bag opening edge portion and between the free end section of the flap member and the inner strap edge.
More specifically, the strap member of the invention includes an inner and outer surface across its width, an inner edge along the strap length that is directed inwardly with respect to the flexible bag, an outer edge along the strap length is directed outwardly with respect to the bag, and handle means is located on the strap outer surface to be manually gripped by a user of the trash bag holder. The outer surface of the strap width is effective to fit contiguously to an inside surface of the bag opening edge portion. The gripping means includes pivotally mounted fastening means which is effective to fixedly clamp the bag opening edge portion in place with respect to the outer width surface when the closed supporting ring is disposed within the bag opening edge portion. The handle means is disposed at a location on the outer strap surface and is located at the top of the ring once the opposing ends of the strap member are releasably connected to each other. A ramp portion is rigidly connected to the outer edge at a location intermediate the two opposing end portions to further enhance the sweeping of refuse into the open bag.
In a molded product of the invention, each flap member, ramp portion, knob elements, and handle member are integrally formed as a unitary structure with the strap member. A living hinge is effective to enable each flap member to pivotally rotate with respect to the strap member. The coupling means for releasably connecting the two ends of the strap member includes a plurality of knob elements at one of the opposing strap ends and a plurality of knob receiving holes at the other opposing end effective to releasably snap engage said knob elements. The knob elements are directed outwardly from the outer surface of the strap member and integrally formed as a unitary structure with said strap member along a line parallel to the outer edges of the strap member. The knob receiving holes are disposed along said same line that is parallel to the outer edges of the strap member so that the knob elements mesh with the knob receiving holes when the opposing ends of the strap member overlap to form the closed supporting ring.